Going from $100 to $1,000 Watches: The Consumer Treadmill

Jonny writes:

It's like anything in which you start caring about "quality" - it ruins stuff of lesser quality.

If you're 18 (I mean, uh, 21) then wine is wine, and there's red and white, and that's about the only distinction that can be made. Whatever does the trick is what you drink.

If you're 30 you start getting a sense of full bodied and light bodied, cheap and expensive. You should know the difference between "Two-buck Chuck" and a $30 bottle, but $10 and $20 not so much. At this stage anything under $12 or so is good enough.

After another decade or so of drinking win, you start caring more about quality. You can tell that a $20 bottle is better than a $10 bottle - your palate is awake to the subtleties of taste and texture. You probably prefer the $12-15 bottles to the ~$10 bottles.

And so on. Now of course the thing is that there are plenty of decent $10 bottles of wine. And everyone has their different levels that they settle into. I prefer beer (although am trying to veer more towards wine as it is allegedly healthier and I might have a slight beer allergy), so my beer palate is more developed. I can't stand cheap beer. If I'm in a supermarket or convenience store my go-to brand is Sierra Nevada - its widely available and is a decent beer. But if I'm in a beer store, I'll ask the owner what the freshest IPA is, because the difference between a two-week old IPA and a six-month old one is enormous, even of the same brand.

With wine, there are some I like more than others and I can generally tell if a bottle is cheap (less than $10), moderate ($10-20ish), or expensive ($20+). I once bought a $50 bottle for a special date with my wife and I honestly couldn't tell you the difference between that and a $25 bottle.

The higher the quality, the less you get in return for the money spent. A $50 bottle of wine is not twice as good as a $25 bottle; it might be 20-30% better, and to notice that you have to have a developed palate. A $100 bottle might only be 10-20% better than the $50 bottle. Etc.

You could argue that the person who is perfectly happy with an $8 bottle of wine, or thinks that Samuel Adams is the pinnacle of beer (as I did in high school), is better off than the wine or beer snob. On the other hand, once you start going down the rabbit-hole of developing a palate of anything - stereos, wines, beer, watches, etc - then there is no turning back and you can't "un-learn" what you've learned.

All of that is a long-winded way of saying this: It is a rare sub-$300 watch that interests me these days. Occasionally something of interest falls into that range on the used market, but for the most part my eye is on $300+ watches. Why $300? It just seems that's the cut-off between what could be called "affordable watches" and "semi-luxury" watches. The quality level jumps - both in terms of design, build, finishing, and movement. For better or worse, I just can't go back.

Related articles

Favorite Manly Watch Under $2,000: Oris Aquis 743376647253MB

Why Bingeing on Cheap Fashion Watches Compromises Your Manly Watch Quest

Comments

[Ed S]

Why do wine and watch lovers not suffer the same level of approbation as audiophiles?
If I tell people I spent more than $5000 on my audio system, they look at me like I have two heads.

[herculodge]

The watch hobby is cheap compared to expensive stereo equipment. Can't that go up to 30K for a top of the line system?

[Gary]

Actually, some high end speakers cost $100 K per pair, not to mention the rest of the system.

[Angelo]

Proceed with caution though. I remember from my marketing class, a study in consumer stupidity. A low priced perfume was introduced back in the 1970s and didn't catch on----didn't do well at all in fact. We were told that the company "made a change" and it then sold much better. What was the change? A woman in the class guessed that they improved the formula---to make it smell better or last longer. Wrong. I guessed that they changed the packaging---a more unique bottle or classier looking box. Wrong. What did they do? The only change was that they raised the price and it went from selling at discount stores to selling in department stores. The perfume and its packaging, name, etc., were exactly the same. The higher pricing made people believe they were buying something better.

[Gary]

Of course, if you own 30 mid-priced ($500) watches, you've still got $15 K tied up.

[StarHalo]

I've drank enough of the top-shelf craft beer that even Sierra Nevada is a difficult step down, but I compromise to economize..

And beer is only a cheap hobby for that evening; $10 a sixer over time isn't fun.

[Bill]

"You get what you pay for" is not just a lie, it's a stupid lie. Do I get the upscale real estate the fancy store occupies? Do I get the Jamaican vacation the salesman's going to buy with the extra money I wasted?

It's not what you pay that matters, it's what you get.

Sometimes the product itself might not be worth what you paid for it, but the name brand's customer service makes up for it. Sometimes you're just being taken for a ride. If you spend a hundred times more for something than it would take to buy a modest, serviceable version of the same thing, you're obviously looking to impress somebody (perhaps yourself?) with how much you could afford to spend, and the makers of luxury goods are more than willing to help you.

Not that you shouldn't buy that super-expensive watch or exotic car if you can afford it and if that's what you really want. It may even be Manly to do so. But there are a lot of good products out there that don't have such a huge luxury markup. If you didn't know this watch cost ten times what that one did, would it really look any better to you? If you judge that something less expensive is as good or better, isn't trusting your own judgment Manly too?

[jonnybardo]

I agree, Angelo. Companies like Panerai raise prices on watches, which actually helps owners because the re-sell value also increases, but I cannot help but wonder what the "real" value of a Panerai is compared to, say, an Oris.

I mean, I don't doubt increase in quality. I've seen the difference between a $100, $300, $500, $1K, and $3K watches. But at some point the curve shows diminished increase in PERCEIVABLE quality, while prices continue to rocket. For me the key is finding the "sweetspots" and watches that represent good value for the price they cost - value in terms of the quality of the build, design, movement, etc.

StarHalo, I agree. I prefer the $12 6-packs, or better yet the $12 4-packs, or even better a fresh IPA on tap (the best I ever had was Russian River Brewery's Pliny the Elder on tap at the brewery in Santa Rosa). But Sierra Nevada represents a decent beer that is widely available. If there's nothing better available, I can know that a Sierra Nevada won't be a bad beer.

Bill, you bring up a good point that I think Jeff and I have talked about - how perceived value and price tag impacts desire. Its hard to look at a $10K Panerai completely objectively. I mean, I love them but I can't say I love them more than, say, my Orient Saturation Diver. Is it a better watch? More beautifully designed? I cannot say.

[Ed]

Come on, get real: all beer tastes like weasel piss. Not that I ever drank any weasel piss!

[herculodge]

I only like cold porter with pesto pizza, but I never indulge because if I did I'd weight over 300 pounds.

[StarHalo]

Ed, we were all there at one time, staring at the Bud/Miller/Coors on the store shelf that somehow tasted the same; try a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale and get back to us.

[Angelo]

I'm not a beer snob by any means----Jonny and I have discussed this before---I have Genny Cream Ale in my garage fridge right now! But I remember one beer I liked, that's become almost impossible to find. I think Total Wine & Beer gets in a small shipment every now and then...Lowenbrau. I think the original Lowenbrau was German. Then there was a U.S. version in the 1970s. The one I've been trying to find lately----I think is an import again. The version I remember is the American version and it was good, at least to my taste buds. But I hear the import version is better. I'd love to find some to buy!

[StarHalo]

Angelo, check out RateBeer or BeerAdvocate to locate some of the more serious bottle shops in your area; good luck beer hunting!

[Ed]

Getting back to you Starhalo: tried the vaunted Sierra Nevada Pale Ale in bottles. IMHO, no differnt than mass-market beer. A wasted $8.99. Think you've been had by bs marketing phrases like "Purest ingredients" and "whole cone hops" (wtf?). Still weasel piss my friend. Bet you couldn't identify it in a blind tasting. Next?

[Angelo]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nm7uX1DjmrY

Here you go Ed. I bet you'd like one of these. I know I would.